Good morning. Nice and early again today. Please note my new article last night on excessive board room pay at small, AIM-listed property company Inland Homes (INL). Should be an interesting AGM on 27 Nov, I'll be attending to make these points in person. Directors really do need to think more carefully about aligning their rewards with shareholder value, and not simply using the company like a personal slush fund. I regard good corporate governance, and fair executive pay, aligned with shareholder interests, as being of absolutely paramount importance. If that means having the occasional scrap with Directors, then so be it. Let's hope these Directors are sensible, and listen to shareholder concerns, making the necessary reductions in pay.
Today's Results
Turning to today's results, although I don't usually do large caps, I do have a long position in J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) , as the valuation seems undemanding, and as a customer they just seem to be executing so well. Whilst Tesco are a shambles from a customer perspective, and have in my opinion completely lost the plot.
Sainsbury's interim results to 29 Sept show sales up 4%, and LFL (like-for-like) sales up 1.7% (this measure strips out the distorting impact of new shop openings & closures). Underlying EPS is up 9.4% to 15.2p, and the interim divi is up 6.7% to 4.8p. That looks a bit ahead of forecasts I think, so could be good news for the share price today, hopefully.
The shares look attractive to me, with a 4.8% forecast divi yield, and steady earnings growth, combined with a PER of about 11-12. There is some debt & a pension deficit, but all looks under control to me.
There's probably not that much short term upside on the share price, maybe 10-20%, but as a long term hold for the divis, it looks pretty attractive to me.
Had a quick look at Speedy Hire (LON:SDY) interim results, which look pretty encouraging, with a 37% increase in adjusted PBT to £6.6m.EPS is up 23% to 1.1p. According to Stockopedia, the forecast PER is 14 this year, falling to 11 next year, so that looks about right.
Also had a quick look at results from Blinkx (LON:BLNX) , but I have absolutely no idea how to value it. Great top line growth, but not much profit. So the £255m mkt cap looks very racy to me.
That's about it for today. Lots more results, but larger caps & resource stocks, which I don't cover here.
New Website
Please check out my sister website, www.SmallCapValue.co.uk which is pretty much finished now. It's a value investing website that I've set up using a proprietory stock screening system called Performance Analysis Scores (developed by an eminent UK Business School Professor), which I have exclusive access to.
I pick a "share of the month" and am running an online model portfolio to track performance of the small caps picked using the PAS system & my interpretation of it. The deal is that the site is free, but to get the password to access the most recent article, you have to register for the email newsletter. I'll then earn a small income from occasional (less than 1 per week, and indeed none so far!) emails of financial-related things that I think are interesting. No spam or scammy things, I promise, just genuinely interesting investment ideas.
You can of course unsubscribe from the email list any time, and I will never sell or pass on your email details to anyone else. Anyway, do check it out & let me know what you think! To save me having to do another mail out, as a one-off, the password for the Nov 2012 share of the month article is: "timegets". As always, please always DYOR.
Regards, Paul.
About the Author's Blog
Experienced UK small cap investor & independent analyst, Paul Scott (aka. "paulypilot"), casts his eye over results RNSs each morning. His reports are now published exclusively on Stockopedia in stages each morning - with a first comment just before market open at 8 a.m., then additional updates throughout the morning… ...read more or visit website »
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed are the personal views of Paul Scott only, and not Stockopedia. Opinions are believed to be true and therefore constitute fair comment. Paul's opinions NEVER constitute financial advice, and should not be misconstrued as such. Readers should take professional advice as appropriate in managing your investments. If you spot a factual error in Paul's reports, please let him know, and he will happily correct the article together with an apology as soon as possible.
Inland Homes plc, formerly Inland plc, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in acquiring residential and mixed use sites and seeks planning consent for development. The Company also develops a number of plots for private sale. Inland Homes is a developer of urban regeneration projects around southern England. The Company generates income by way of land sales. It also generates income from house building, fees from planning and property management services and other related services. The Company’s completed projects include Byfleet, Surrey; Warren Road, Reigate, and Farnborough, Hampshire. Key projects include Drayton Garden Village, Middlesex; Queensgate, Farnborough; Poole, Dorset, and Ashford, Middlesex. As of June 30, 2011, the land portfolio consisted of 1,590 plots across the south of England, controlled or managed by Inland. more »
J Sainsbury plc is engaged in grocery and related retailing. The Company is organized into three segments: Retailing (Supermarkets and Convenience); Financial services (Sainsbury’s Bank joint venture), and Property investments (The British Land Company PLC joint venture and Land Securities PLC joint venture). As of March 17, 2012, the Company operated over 1,000 stores comprising 572 supermarkets and 440 convenience stores. Investment properties held by the Company are those contained within its joint ventures with Land Securities Group PLC and The British Land Company PLC. The Company’s Click & Collect service allows customers to place general merchandise orders online by 2pm for collection the following day from over 900 stores. Its general merchandise Website offers more than 6,000 branded and own brand products. In October 2011, it acquired online entertainment company, Global Media Vault Limited. In June 2012, J Sainsbury PLC acquired HMV Group plc's holding in Anobii Limited. more »
Speedy Hire Plc is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the provision of equipment for hire and sale, and associated services to the construction, infrastructure, industrial and related industries. The Company operates in two segments: UK & Ireland Asset Services and International Asset Services. The Company provides a range of services, such as the hire of small tools and equipment; surveying and measurement instrumentation; lifting and materials handling equipment; low level and non-powered access equipment; compressed air; lighting equipment; temporary power eneration; mechanical pumps, and temporary site communications. It also provide associated services through the provision of training, asset management and testing, repair, inspection and maintenance (TRIM). In April 2011, the Company sold its Accommodation Hire business to Elliott Group Ltd. more »
